Zombie attacks through Windows, antivirus flaws

A BOT program which exploits holes in Symantec's antivirus software and Microsoft Voleware has been seen in the
wild.

Dubbed "Spybot.ACYR" by Symantec and "Sdbot.worm!811a7027" by McAfee, the bot is attacking educational
institutions.

News.com reported Symantec said the bot had created a spike in traffic on port 2967 in the .edu domain.

It claims that there has been only a small impact so far. The bot exploits a six month old hole in Symantec Client
Security and Symantec AntiVirus. The security outfit patched the hole on May 25, and those who applied the patch have
not been affected.

For the bot to work the victim needs to have forgotten to patch five flaws in Microsoft Windows, the most recent
flaw was patched in August and affects Windows file and printer sharing.

If those patches have not been installed Spybot opens a back door in the system and connects to an Internet Relay
Chat server to let the remote attacker control the compromised computer. µ